Discussing Urbanization, Spatial Transformations and Heritage in Guarulhos.

Abstract

This article shows a possible analysis of the spatial transformations verified in Guarulhos, city that belongs to the Metropolitan region of São Paulo. The period of study was comprehended between 1890 and 1970. The methodology adopted was devoted to the intersection of several documentary sources, such as cartography, aerial photography, photographs, primary documents, publications and field work, linked with the theoretical assumptions of the history of urbanization. As consequence, this paper presents considerations about the changes verified in the landscape in Guarulhos at that time considered as the epoch of its modernization. It seeks to understand population-setting mechanisms in Guarulhos after its emancipation of São Paulo, in the late nineteenth century. In addition, the paper focuses the arrival of the railroad, the installation of the Air Base of Sao Paulo, the implementation of the Dutra and Fernão Dias highways and also the implementation of the first large housing complex developed by the State of São Paulo, the CECAP. The article also points some possible reflexions concerning the spatial transformations, either in landscape scale, either in building scale without forgetting to point out the relevance of observing the social impacts of such changes in space.